Alright, let's open our Bibles
to Malachi chapter 3. Malachi chapter 3. Now my text
tonight and for the next message, Sunday night, out of Malachi
is just going to be this one verse. Malachi 3 and verse 6. Two messages on this, both of
them entitled, Sons of Jacob not consumed. Sons of Jacob not
consumed. It reads in verse six, for I
am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. And I wanna deal with this verse
and the truth of this verse in some detail, that's why I divided
it into two messages. Not because I wanna belabor a
point, although I must say, if we're gonna belabor one, this
is one that We don't mind belaboring it. Mercy of God and our salvation
in Christ to sons of Jacob. But the reason I want to do this
is I want to use it as a foundation for an exercise in studying the
scripture. I want to show you some other
scripture having to do this. You know, God identifies himself
so often in scripture as the God of Jacob. It's how he identifies
and distinguishes himself. He's the God of grace, the God
of salvation, the covenant God. And he identifies his children,
his spiritual children oftentimes as sons of Jacob. And that's
significant. It's very significant. And I
want to show you why. There are many names of God in
the scripture. There are many identifications
of God. You can't describe God in just
one name. That's why we love studying the
I Am Scriptures, you know, the Jehovah, Jehovah Sid Canu, and
Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Nisi, Jehovah Shalom. You know, these
are all compound names of God. We know the name Elohim, which
means the all-powerful God. We could go on and on about that.
God is, he's single in simplicity in his nature, no mixture of
anything in his nature, and yet he's so vast in the expanse of
his glory that it takes several names to describe him, but it's
still one God in him. And it's the same way with his
people, his elect. We're identified by many different
phrases and names. We're called the elect of God,
the church, meaning called out ones, We're called the redeemed
of the Lord, redeemed by the blood of Christ, ruined by the
fall, redeemed by the blood. We're called the regenerated.
Regenerate, given life, quickened. We're the quickened. We're called
the sheep of his pasture. He's the Lord our shepherd. And
we could go on and on about that. Here's another name, sons of
Jacob. We're called the seed of Abraham, seed of Isaac, and
seed of Jacob. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The
emphasis in calling us and identifying us as sons of Jacob emphasizes,
I believe, the amazing glory and grace of God in Christ and
our salvation by his grace against the dark, black background of
our sin. That's why sons of Jacob are
so appropriate to us who know the Lord. But these things are
for our learning. Many, much of it will be a reminder,
things that we've heard so often but need to hear again. In fact,
none of it will be new, obviously, because it's of God and God is
infinite. This is the gospel, the gospel
of God's grace in Christ. Look at each phrase in this verse,
Malachi 3, 6. He starts out, for I am the Lord.
I the Lord, you might say. The am there is in italics. I
the Lord. Lord there being in capitals
if you have a Cambridge Bible. Should be. He's talking about
himself as Jehovah. That's expressive of his being.
He is in himself, glorious. He is self-existent. No one created
God. You can't create deity. Don't
let anybody ever tell you that divinity or deity or anything
like that of the nature of divinity is created. It cannot be. If
it's created, it's changeable. If it's changeable, it's not
God. Mark it down. He's self-existent. Always has
been, always is, and always will be. I am that I am. That's what
that means. There's not a tense of a verb
in any language that leaves God out. He's self-existent. It also speaks of His purity
and His simplicity. The single nature of God. The holy God. We could talk about
all of his attributes. We don't have time in one night. We can talk about his singleness.
We can talk about his gloriousness, his holiness, his immutability. That's one thing he stresses
here. He says, I change not. His immutability. We don't know a whole lot about
immutability. We just know that it's so. This speaks of his immensity
and his infinity. It speaks of his eternity. It
speaks of his sovereignty. I am the Lord. Several times
we read in the Psalms and read right here in Malachi that he's
the Lord of hosts. And I've always stopped to remind
us that whenever that phrase is used, And it's translated
different ways in different translations, the Lord of a great army, some
say the Lord of the angel army, doesn't matter, it's the same
Lord and it means he cannot be defeated, he cannot be hindered,
he is invincible. The Lord of hosts said this.
So there's no possibility of defeat for our Lord. I am the
Lord, he says, I the Lord. And then this name Jehovah speaks
of covenant. It speaks of salvation. That's
why I opened up with 2 Samuel there, chapter 23. How David,
in his last deathbed words, identifies and praises God. And it's amazing,
isn't it, how the scripture is so consistent. I didn't believe
that always. I used to believe that the Bible
from Genesis to Revelation was full of contradictions. I didn't
realize at the time that the contradictions were in my head,
but not in the word of God. But how he identifies him, he
talks about David himself as the anointed of the God of Jacob
because he was the anointed king of Israel, but we know David
was a type of Christ who is the anointed, the one and only anointed
as king of kings. and there's the Messiah, and
he calls him the God of Jacob. What does that mean? It means
the God who saves sinners by grace. That's what he means. And then later on there, he calls
him the God of Israel. That's what Jacob's name was
changed to. I'll show you that in just a moment. We'll go to
that passage. Israel means, most will say Prince of God, and it
can mean that, but literally it means those who have prevailed
with God. Now how can a sinner like David
or a sinner like me or a sinner like you prevail with the Lord?
Not but one way, and that's in Christ. The prevailer is Christ. And then he says in verse 5,
although my house be not so with God. We're sinners. We're sinners
and deserve nothing but death and eternal damnation, yet, that's
like That yet there is like the same as the buts of Ephesians
chapter, but God who is rich in mercy, Ephesians chapter two.
Yeah. So thank God for his yet. Yet
he hath made with me. God is the source. God is the
first calls. God is the originator. That's
what it is to be a son of Jacob. You can't save yourself. You
did this and God didn't, God didn't respond to you, but you
respond to him. Yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. Now, his being the God of Jacob
has something to do with that everlasting covenant. That's
the covenant of grace made before the world began in Christ. And
it's ordered in all things insure. Back over there, hold your finger
there, 2 Samuel 23. Back over here in Malachi chapter
three, before he identifies himself and distinguishes himself in
verse six as the Lord, and calls his people the sons of Jacob
not consumed, what does he set forth in their minds? The coming
of Christ. Behold, my messenger, John the
Baptist, who will come and prepare the way before me, and the Lord
whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger
of the covenant. So what he's teaching here is
this, that this is the Lord of salvation, who saves sinners
by grace through Christ, the coming messenger of the covenant.
David recognizes that. He says, it's ordered in all
things insure. Now, if it was conditioned on
David, it sure wouldn't have been ordered in all things insure.
If it had been conditioned on Jacob as a man, it would not
have been ordered in all things insure. If it'd been conditioned
on David or Jacob or me or you, it'd be an abject failure. Wouldn't. It'd be a bust. But it's ordered
in all things and sure. Who ordered it? God did before
the foundation of the world. The God of predestination. That's
who that's talking about. David recognized that. And how
can it be sure? Because it's all conditioned
on the surety. Who's the surety of the covenant?
The same one who's the messenger of the covenant. The Lord Jesus
Christ. All the conditions of the covenant
were laid upon Christ. And he fulfilled that by his
obedience unto death on the cross when he drank damnation dry.
And so he, David says, this is all my salvation, not part. He
didn't say this is part of my salvation, did he? He said this
is all my salvation. And it being all my salvation
makes it all my desires. The only thing I want. Although
he make it not to grow. God of Jacob. This speaks of
the covenant of salvation, the covenant of grace in Christ.
And it also speaks of Christ Himself. He says, I am the Lord. No one could make that statement
except He be God. Well, Christ made it several
times in all the I am statements, especially recorded in the book
of John. He said before Abraham was, I am. John chapter 8. That's the Lord. That's the I
am, the I am that I am, who appeared before Moses. One old writer
said, the I am who stood on nothing, spoke to nothing, and created
something. Self-existent. He said, I am
the good shepherd, I am the bread of life, I am the light. You
could go on and on. So this is also proof of the
deity of Christ. And then he says, I change not.
That speaks of his divine nature. God never changes. Can you grasp
that? And the answer is no, you cannot.
I cannot either. But I know this, I know this.
All we know is change. Every day we face change. But
change, if something is going to change, it's either got to
change for the better or for the worse. Doesn't it? I mean,
you can't change and stay the same. Gotta be the better or
the worse. Well, God can't get any better.
He's holy. He's the perfect God. And he
can't get any worse. He never changes. And when the
Bible speaks of the divine nature of Christ, it speaks of Christ
being the same yesterday, today, and forever. You couldn't say
that about anyone who's not God. Christ did not change in His
divine nature and in His personality when He took into union with
Himself sinless humanity, a body and soul. He took that into union
with Him that He did not have before. And He remained the same
as ever He was. Chew on that one a while. That's
amazing, isn't it? Hallelujah, what a Savior. And
nor did he change in this sense. When he's talking here, I believe
he's talking in covenant language concerning salvation. And God
is saying the Lord has not changed in his threatenings of destruction
to the Jews or to any sinner who seeks salvation anywhere
but Christ. He's not changed. It's the same
then, same now, always has been. It's always according to his
word. When he made this covenant with his son before the foundation
of the world, the Bible says he swore an oath. What that means
is he engaged himself, his very nature, every attribute of his
character behind the keeping of that oath. Because he could
swear by no one greater. Never changes. His oath never
changes. That includes his immutability.
And then in his promises of his spirit and presence and protection
of his people and in the salvation of his people, nor will he ever
change. Now think about this, nor will
God ever change in his love and his affections to us. Now that's
an amazing thought. He certainly will never change
in the power of his blood to put away our sins. That's how
powerful his blood never changes. It never changed in his sacrifice,
his righteousness. We have an everlasting righteousness
of infinite value if we have Christ. That's better than what
Adam had in the garden before the fall. Adam had a righteousness,
but it was a creature righteousness. What do we have? Paul said, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God
and the salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first
and the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. What is the righteousness of
God? Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. See, we have the righteousness
of God. We have the white robe of his righteousness. That'll
never change. It'll never diminish. It'll never
get dirty. It'll never grow. tattered or
worn. He says, for I, the Lord, have
not changed my covenant as the old covenant was conditioned
on men. You know, the old covenant, one of the ways that you understand
and know that the old covenant, the law of Moses, could not save
a sinner eternally. There were some temporal ceremonial
promises in that covenant that kept the Jews together for 1,500
years, for a temporary period of time. For example, when he
says you sons of Jacob are not consumed, there is a limited
application to the physical sons of Jacob, but it is limited.
I'll tell you how you know that. The old covenant had a beginning.
It began at Sinai, and it had an end. It ended at Calvary.
You see what I'm saying? So the old covenant was conditioned
on men and men failed. Now that's not to puff us up,
that's to make us realize that we're sinners too and we would
fail. We have failed, haven't we? The covenant of works condemns
us all because justification cannot be by the works of men.
So therefore it was a failure as any hope of salvation by works. But you see, go back to David.
He's talking about an everlasting covenant. Ordered in all things
and sure. Conditioned on Jesus Christ and
what he accomplished at Calvary. Jesus Christ who is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus Christ who is the Lord
our righteousness. Look back at verse six of Malachi
three. He says, therefore, now for this reason, you sons of
Jacob are not consumed. Now let me say this, to understand
this now. Many, and we'll say from scriptural
testimony, I believe I could prove this from scripture without
much problem. Most of the physical sons of
Jacob were consumed. Now that's so. Any sinner who
dies without Christ is consumed. What does that consumed mean?
It means they perish. It means they're damned. Hebrews chapter 3 speaks of those
who were brought out of Egypt physically and how the majority
of them perished in the wilderness in unbelief. They were consumed.
They were physical sons of Jacob. So whoever he's talking about
here, and I'll tell you, you know when I preach things like
this, I always get, if I do it on TV, Ron, you know I always
get some nasty letters on this, don't I? But I mean, I'm sorry,
that's just what scripture says. Whoever these sons of Jacob are,
whoever they are, I'm gonna tell you something, they're not consumed.
What's the opposite of being consumed? It's being saved. That's the opposite of being
consumed. You're either consumed, damned, or you're saved, justified. Whoever he's talking about in
these sons of Jacob, they're not consumed by sin, even though
they're sinners. How do you know? They're sons
of Jacob. They're not consumed by self.
How do you know? They're sons of Jacob. He was
a selfish man. You read about Jacob? He was
a selfish man. So are we. They're not consumed
by the world, not consumed by guilt, Not consumed by trials
and sorrow and death. Why? Because he's the Lord and
he changes none. And wherein doesn't he change?
Well, he doesn't change in his essential nature and he doesn't
change in his covenant promises in Christ. Who are these sons
of Jacob who are not consumed? I'll tell you exactly who they
are. They're the elect of God. Everything he says right here
about The sons of Jacob who are not consumed is connected directly
with the coming of the Messiah, the messenger of the covenant,
who will purge like a refiner's fire and cleanse like a full
of soap. That's where the connection is.
So they're the chosen people of God. They're chosen in Christ.
They're redeemed by his blood. They're regenerated by his spirit
and called out by his spirit. And we can say of them, it's
of the Lord's mercies they're not concerned. Now let me give
you several things and I'll just give them to you quickly. How
do we identify with Jacob? How can we call ourselves sons
of Jacob if we don't have any physical bloodline to Jacob?
Well, I'll tell you how, listen to this. First of all, Jacob
was a sinner, so are we. You don't have to read a whole
lot about Jacob's life to know he was a sinner. And the emphasis
there is Jacob's need. Jacob needed salvation by the
sovereign mercy and grace of God. So do we. So do we. Turn to Romans chapter nine with
me. Romans chapter nine. You see, the reason that we love
sovereign grace so much is that's the kind of grace we need as
sons of Jacob. Any other kind of grace, whatever
the world calls it, won't get the job done. This part grace,
part works, part God's will, part man's will, will not save
a son of Jacob. Now, it may save somebody who's
better than Jacob, but there's no such animal on earth, the
Bible says, for we'll all sin and come short of the glory of
God. But the kind of grace that we need is sovereign grace, sovereign
mercy. Jacob was in need of cleansing
from his sin. He needed that fuller soap. He
needed the blood of Christ. Jacob was in need of justification,
his guilt removed by the blood and righteousness of Christ.
That's what he needed. He needed the cross. Look at Romans chapter 9. The
Bible here, let me go on, here's another way. God chose Jacob. It doesn't say here Jacob chose
God. Now later on it tells us he did, but God chose Jacob. That's the elect. If we're in
Christ, God chose us too. Look at verse six. Let's go back
to verse six of Romans nine. He's talking about the word of
God here. He's talking about the fact that most of the physical
sons of Jacob perished. Well, does that mean God promised
to save them, but he couldn't, wouldn't, or didn't? No, not
as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are
not all Israel. Remember whose name that is,
that's Jacob's name. The name change God gave him.
He said, they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Neither
because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children,
but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.
Notice how time progressed there and God narrowed that down until
he came to one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember in Galatians
chapter three, not to seeds as of many, but as of one, Christ. All conditioned on Christ. So
what's he teaching there when he says, in Isaac shall thy seed
be caught? He's not just talking about the nation Israel as opposed
to the Arabs. You say, why? How do you know
that? Well, what did he just get through saying? They're not
all Israel, which are of Israel, but look at verse eight. That goes all the way back to
Abraham. He says in verse eight, that is, they which are the children
of the flesh, the physical, These are not the children of God.
Physical connections do not make you a child of God. That's what
he's saying here. So he says, but the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. Now that's more than
just the promise that Abraham and Sarah would have a child.
But that's the promise of the Messiah, Christ, that would come
through that. He says in verse 9, for this
is the word of promise, at this time will I come and Sarah shall
have a son. It included that physical promise
because it was through that physical line that Christ would come.
And he says, and not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived
by one, even by her father Isaac. Now for the children, Rebekah
and Isaac's children, talking about the twins, Jacob and Esau,
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil. This is
not God looking down through the telescope of time and foreseeing
that Jacob would be good and Esau would be evil. He says,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand, not of works, you see
it, not of works, but of him that calleth. Jacob was chosen of God. Jacob
was part of the covenant. And if we're in Christ, so are
we. Here's the next thing. God gave Jacob the birthright.
Look there at Romans 9, verse 12. God gave Jacob. Now Esau
was the firstborn, but God gave Jacob the birthright. You know
what that birthright was? It was the birthright of the
firstborn during that time before the old covenant meant this,
the firstborn He was the priest of the family, the spiritual
leader of the family. He was the one, the representative
of the family. He was the caretaker of the family
as far as not only physical matters, but spiritual matters. And that
birthright was given to Jacob. It says in verse 12, it was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. That's what it means.
The birthright was given to Jacob. My friend, if we're in Christ,
the birthright is given to us. We're the recipients of a salvation
that was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. 2 Timothy
chapter 1. Given us in Christ Jesus. Chosen
of God. Given a birthright, salvation.
That's what that is. Salvation by God's grace in Christ. And here's the next thing. Look
back at Romans 9 verse 13. God loved Jacob. And all who are in Christ can
honestly and without shame say, God loves us. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That's what it
says. He's quoting out of Malachi chapter 1. Remember that? Malachi
chapter 1. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the covenant love of God. Unconditionally towards
his Jacobs. All conditioned on Christ. First
John 4 10. Herein is love. Not that we love
God. See, he didn't love Jacob because
Jacob loved him. Jacob didn't. By nature, none
of us do. We're sinners. We're people of
grace, grace we didn't earn and don't deserve, just like Jacob,
a sinner. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and what did he do? How did he prove
that? He sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins, a
sin-bearing sacrifice that brings satisfaction through the blood
of his cross. Christ made sin for us. Christ who knew no sin
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The Bible says
in John 13 one that Christ loved his own until the end, his own
people, until the finishing of the work. All conditioned on
the cross. You see, the cross is not a failure.
It's the success, the victory of God's love and God's justice. Where is the God of judgment?
Remember they asked that question. Well, the God of judgment who
loved Jacob can save a Jacob and still be just. He's the Lord,
he changes not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Turn back to Genesis chapter
28. Here's another thing. God revealed
himself to Jacob. He revealed himself to Jacob.
Look at Genesis 28. And notice how he revealed himself.
Look at verse 10. You see, if we're in Christ,
we sons of Jacob, spiritual sons of Jacob, God revealed himself
to us too in the preaching of the gospel by the power of the
Holy Spirit. Look here at verse 10, then Jacob went out from
Beersheba and he went toward Haran. And he lighted up on a
certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was
set and he took up the stones of the place. put them for his
pillows and lay down in that place to sleep, and he dreamed. And behold, a ladder set up on
the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold,
the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold,
the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord of Abraham, thy
father, and the God of Isaac. This is the same Lord who says,
I change not. He says, the land whereon thou
liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, and thy seed
shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad
to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the
south, and in thee, and in thy seed shall all the families of
the earth be blessed, not just one ethnic group. He says, and
behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places, whether
thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land, for I will
not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken, to
the, who is that ladder? Jacob's ladder. That's Christ.
Christ, the only way of heaven. The only way to heaven. He said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the
Father but by me. Turn over to Genesis 32. God
revealed himself to Jacob. God's gonna reveal himself to
all his sons of Jacob. All his elect people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, Jew and Gentile. even to his
elect among the physical sons of Jacob. He's going to reveal
himself in the preaching of Christ, in the preaching of the cross.
And when he does, the preaching of the cross won't be foolishness
to him anymore. It'll be the power and the wisdom
of God in Christ. Look at Genesis 32. Here's another
thing. As God revealed himself to Jacob,
Jacob would not let go of Christ. Let me tell you something, if
God ever reveals himself to you or to me, we will never let go
of Christ. Look at Genesis 32, look at verse
24. Here's Jacob, he was left alone,
Genesis 24. Or Genesis 32 verse 24, he was
left alone. There's a sinner alone with God.
And there he wrestled with a man with him until the breaking of
day, and when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he
touched the hollow of his thigh, and that is the man whom Jacob
wrestled with did not prevail against Jacob. He touched the
hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out
of joint, and he wrestled with him as he wrestled with him.
And he said, let me go for the day breaking. And he said, I
will not let thee go except thou bless me. And he said unto him,
what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. Jacob, sons
of Jacob, I'm a sinner. That's not teaching that you
can wrestle down God with your own power and strength. All that's
simply teaching is that when God brings himself into full
vision of a sinner like we are, and we wrestle in this way, in
our hearts, in our minds, in our consciences, we'll see we
have no hope but Christ and we will not let him go. And you
know what, that's his prevailing. You know, after Jacob wrestled
with the Lord there, remember his thigh was out of joint, he
walked differently, didn't he? He walked in conviction, that's
what that's a picture of, the contrite and broken heart. But
look on there in Genesis 32, he said, what's your name? And
he said, my name is Jacob, verse 20. And he said, thy name shall
be called no more Jacob. Here's another thing that we
can identify with Jacob. God gave him a new name. He said,
thou shalt no more be called Jacob, but Israel. Israel, a
prince of God, those who have prevailed with God, for as a
prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed.
How do we prevail with God? by looking to and resting in
and pleading the blood and righteousness of Christ. God's given us a new
name. That's right, our name was Adam.
Our name was fallen, guilty, hell-deserving sinners. But now
we're sons of Jacob. Now we're Israel. those who prevail with God, those
who look to Christ, those who plead with Christ. And look at
Genesis 49. Now, Sunday night, I'm gonna deal with Genesis 49
in detail, but I want you to look at one specific section
of it here. Here's another way that we can
identify with Jacob spiritually. Jacob believed God and he looked
for Christ. He had a hope that was not of
this earth. It wasn't in an earthly land,
an earthly priesthood, an earthly tabernacle or anything like that.
It wasn't in his own works. He looked for Messiah to come
and it's revealed when he blessed his son specifically when he
blessed Judah. Look at verse eight. This is
Jacob on his deathbed blessing his sons. Speaking of his sons,
and as I said, I'll go over this whole thing a little bit more
in detail on Sunday night because I want you to see something about
this. These are sons of Jacob here. And here's what he says,
look at verse eight. He said, Judah spoke to his son
Judah. This is the fourth one he blessed.
He says, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. praising
Judah. Thy hand shall be in the neck
of thine enemies. That means they're gonna be defeated.
Thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a
lion's whelp from the prey, my son. Thou art gone up, he stooped
down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion who shall rouse
him up, and the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a
lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come, And unto him
shall the gathering of the people be. Unto him now, this sector,
or this Shiloh, And this lion of the tribe of Judah, he says,
verse 11, binding his foe unto the vine and his asses cold unto
the choice vine, that's God's vine, and he says, he washed
his garments in wine, that's the blood, and his clothes in
the blood of grapes, and his eyes shall be red with wine and
his teeth white with milk. What is he talking about? He's
talking about the lion of the tribe of Judah which is a prophecy
and a picture of Christ coming to defeat all his enemies and
gather his people under himself and he's going to do it by his
own death Jacob knew that and as he was blessing his sons here's
the one that he pointed out so clearly that was going to be
fulfilled not in any not in any mere man but one who is known
as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And the scepter, the kingship,
the kingly line would not cease until Shiloh come. Peace, that's
what Shiloh means. Well, turn to Exodus chapter
28. Now, Exodus 28. Now there in
Genesis 49 that I'll come back to, Jacob had 12 sons. And I'll say more about that
Sunday night. But he had 12 sons. And as you
know, as time developed, they become the 12 tribes of Israel. Well, you remember over in Exodus
28, he's talking about the priestly garments here, beginning at verse
9. He's actually talking about them
before, but look at verse 9 of Exodus 28. Exodus 28 and verse
9. And here he's talking about,
in this section, he begins talking about the ambulance on his shoulder. The priest in his garments, you
know, had the undergarments. And then he had an ambulance
that were to be put on his shoulder. One on each shoulder. And he's
talking about this, verse 9, and thou shalt take two onyx
stones. engrave on them the names of
the children of Israel, six of their names on one stone, six
on one shoulder, and the other six names of the rest on the
other stone according to their birth, in the order of their
birth. And he says, with the work of
an engraver in stone, remember we studied that in Zechariah
when he talked about the engraving? What this is talking about is
the surety of the salvation of God's people in Christ. He says,
like the engravings of a signet, thou shalt engrave the two stones
with the names of the children of Israel. Thou shalt make them
to be set in ooshes of gold. That is little things where they
could put the names down into. And thou shalt put the two stones
upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the
children of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names
before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial to remind
you of something. What is that reminding them of?
That that high priest represented a specific particular people. Twelve names. The tribes of Israel. And then all over it talks about
the breastplate. And he says on the breastplate
you'd have three rows with four names each. And he says in verse
21, look at the Exodus 20, And the stone shall be with the names
of the children of Israel, twelve according to their names, like
the engravings of a signet. Every one with his name shall
they be according to the twelve tribes. So he had the names of
the twelve sons of Jacob on his breastplate and the names of
the twelve sons of Jacob on his shoulder. What's that a picture
of? The high priest, the representative of the people of Israel going
into the holiest of all with the blood of the Lamb, representing,
making atonement, satisfying law and justice, putting away
sin, bringing forth everlasting righteousness for the sons of
Jacob. That's who he's doing it for.
Them being on his shoulder means this, he bore all the responsibility. He bore the burden. He bore all
the conditions and stipulations of their salvation were put upon
Christ. That's what that picture typified. On his breastplate, covering
his heart. Actually, it was called the breastplate
of judgment. So there's judgment there too, but they were on his
heart. Not only did he bear them on
his shoulders, he bore them on his heart. He loved his own until
the end. What does that picture? It pictured the sons of Jacob,
spoken of in Malachi right here, who are not consumed. Jesus Christ,
our great high priest, going into the holiest of all, bearing
his people's sins upon himself. Taking that blood into the very
holy place the holiest of all the very presence of God Meeting
all the conditions having us on his heart the sons of his
love Sinners who don't deserve his love for when we were yet
enemies Christ died for the ungodly He died for the sons of Jacob
and bearing, meeting all conditions, all requirements, all stipulations,
going under the wrath of God, satisfying the justice of God,
paying our debt to God's law and justice, putting away our
sins, and bringing forth everlasting righteousness for the sons of
Jacob. And that's the only reason, and
the only reason that we're not concerned. All right.